


she I was seeking

by likebrightness



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ark AU, F/F, Gen, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2015-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-25 18:24:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4971607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likebrightness/pseuds/likebrightness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bell tells her to go and so she goes. </p>
<p>- or - </p>
<p>
  <a href="http://wildgrapevine.tumblr.com/post/123093482399/but-imagine-octavia-blake-actually-getting-away">What happened if Octavia escaped from the Unity Ball?</a>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	she I was seeking

Bell tells her to go and so she goes. 

She does not run. Does not draw attention to herself. She stays close to the wall and pauses before rounding any corner.

Every hallway looks the same. She could have passed home already, could be going in a circle and passed it twice.

Bellamy’s going to find her. The Ark isn’t that big. It seems big, to her, right now, it seems _huge_ , there’s so much of it and so much space and every once in a while there’s a _window_ and she can see _Earth_. It’s _beautiful_.

And distracting. She’s looking at it when she hears people coming, far too close, and she doesn’t know the procedures for a solar flare, for anything really, doesn’t know if they’ll still be checking IDs or if they’ll leave her alone. She’s still got her stupid mask on, and who knows how far she is from the masquerade ball at this point? Maybe she’ll look so out of place they’ll check her even if normally they wouldn’t.

The voices keep coming closer, and they’re going to _kill her mom_ if they find her, and so Octavia wrenches open the nearest door and tries not to slam it behind her.

She still needs to hide; surely they heard the door. She doesn’t know where she is. It’s some work station, or something, lots of tables with tools on them. There are lockers on one wall and that’s where she heads. They’re small, but she knows how to fit in small spaces.

“Hey, Jesse, is that you? I need a—”

Octavia doesn’t make it to the lockers before a girl comes into view. She’s got coveralls half pulled up then tied around her waist, just a tank top above them. She has a grease smear across one of her forearms and that’s what Octavia looks at, focuses on, because she’s too terrified to meet the girl’s eyes.

“Oh, right, Unity Day masquerade, huh? Mask or not, though, you’re obviously not Jesse.”

Octavia shakes her head, still staring at the grease on the girl’s arm.

The girl takes a couple of steps forward, and Octavia stumbles backward.

“You okay?”

Octavia doesn’t answer at first, but those people have to be close by now, have to be _right outside the door_ , and she _can’t_ get caught, they will _kill her mom_ if she’s caught, and she doesn’t know what else to do but shake her head again.

“Can I help?” the girl asks.

Octavia swears she can hear footsteps in the hallway. “Hide me,” she begs, and this is it. She had no choice but to trust this girl, and if she shouldn’t have, she’s _done_ , and her mom is _dead_ , and who knows what happens to Bellamy?

But the girl only hesitates for a moment before quickly walking to the lockers and pulling one open. “Inside,” she says.

Octavia goes

The girl rearranges some of the things in the locker to cover Octavia: a bag in front of her feet, a jacket hung over her head and shoulders. She’s sure if anyone opens it, she’ll still be immediately found, but she feels better anyway. The girl closes the locker and Octavia thinks _I am not afraid_.

It’s not thirty seconds later that Octavia hears the door open.

“Reyes, you in here?”

Octavia thinks she knows the voice, thinks she’s heard it when she was under the floor, but she’s really not sure. She thinks _I am not afraid_ and breathes as quietly as possible.

“Yeah, one sec,” the girl— _Reyes_ —says. Octavia hears the clatter of tools, then, “What’s up?”

“Need to scan your ID,” the first voice says, so yes, it must be a guard. _I am not afraid_ , Octavia thinks. “Solar flare and all.”

“Sure.”

“You know it’d be a lot easier for us if you actually took part in the Unity Day celebrations.” It’s another voice. Another guard. There’s a beep that must be them scanning her ID.  “And didn’t make us drag our asses down here to scan you.”

“And I live to make your life easier, Powells,” Reyes laughs.

She sounds calm, carefree. Doesn’t sound like she’s hiding a…a _fugitive_ , or an illegal, or whatever Octavia would be classified as. She could still turn her in, though, of that Octavia is acutely aware. She could turn her in any time.

“Anyone else here?” the first guard asks.

“Sure,” Reyes chuckles, “like Wick is putting in some extra time when he doesn’t have to.”

“Whatever. Have a good night.”

“You too.”

The door closes.

Octavia breathes. Thinks _I am not afraid_.

“You can come out now,” Reyes says.

Octavia doesn’t move. She hears footsteps come closer, but it is just one set, just the other girl, she thinks, she hopes, God, this locker could open and it could be a guard and she could be—

The locker opens and Octavia’s whole body twitches.

“Hey,” Reyes says, voice quieter than it was before. “It’s just me. You can come out.”

Octavia pulls the jacket off of herself. Reyes is standing a few feet back from the locker now, watching her. She climbs out and just watches Reyes right back.

“Did you do something wrong?” Reyes says.

_Yeah_ , Octavia thinks. _I was born_.

She doesn’t say anything.

“Do you at least have a name?”

Octavia can’t tell her who she is. Can’t let them find her mother, Bellamy. She thinks _I am not afraid_ and knows it’s a lie.

Reyes sighs. “Okay, so, I’m Raven,” she says. “Raven Reyes. And my favorite person has been in lockup for months now, so I’m pretty much the last person who would turn you in for whatever you did, okay?”

“Raven,” Octavia tries the name out in her mouth and the other girl smiles. “I’m Octavia.”

She can say that much. Her name doesn’t mean anything to anyone except Bellamy and their mom; no one else knows she exists. Even if this girl, if Raven were to ask around about her, no one knows Octavia. Her mom and brother are still safe.

“Okay, Octavia,” Raven says. She gives her another smile. “You want to take off that mask, or you gonna keep it on all night?”

Octavia blushes. She’d forgotten she was wearing it.

She’s been imagining meeting people for fifteen years. Imagined what it would be like. Imagined they’d be enthralled with her, that she’d find someone who liked her immediately. Who would help her hide or somehow help her to not have to hide anymore. She imagined she would be charming. She hadn’t imagined stumbling out of a locker and wearing a mask until the first person she’s ever really met reminds her to take it off.

Raven grins at her when she takes the mask off. She’s still blushing. With Bellamy she is loud and curious. With Aurora she is a hard worker. In her hours spent alone she lets her imagination run wild. But she doesn’t know who she is with anyone else. She wants to find out, wants to be Raven’s friend, wants Raven to be just as enthralled with her as she always imagined someone might be. She looks away from Raven’s smile and tries to figure out what comes next.

Raven is apparently doing the same. “So what now? You need to get somewhere? Without guards seeing you?”

Octavia nods. She just needs to find Bellamy and this will all be fine.

“Where do you live?”

She was beginning to trust Raven, but now she shuts down again. There’s so many problems with that question. Besides the fact that she can’t lead Raven any closer to knowing who her family is, Octavia doesn’t even _know_ where she’s from. Factory Station, sure, she’s got that, but a room number? Do they even have room numbers? Bell has taught her about mythology and the earth and he’s told her about the Ark, sure, but he tells her the fun stuff, the exciting stuff, the stuff she’s always wanted to see. He hasn’t bothered to tell her how they number living quarters. She could never leave theirs, so why would she ever care? And now here she is, stuck in the place she’s always wanted to be, and _terrified_ that she’ll never get home.

She doesn’t bother to tell herself that she is not afraid.

“Okay, so you can’t go home. Maybe you killed your parents or something, who knows. I’m sure I’ll find out whatever it is tomorrow through the grapevine. Don’t kill me though—if you are a murderer, remember that I saved you from those guards.”

Octavia just looks at her.

Raven rolls her eyes. “Fine, don’t laugh. Just trying to inject a little humor into the situation.”

Octavia smiles weakly. It’s not funny, though. She is afraid. Afraid of what Raven will hear “through the grapevine.” Of what she might ask. Of _actually_ killing her own mother, being responsible for her death. She’s afraid of never finding Bell again, and of what will happen if she does.

“So you can’t go home, and you sure as shit can’t hide in my locker forever,” Raven says. “Guess I’ll have to take you to my place.”

Octavia thinks about her imagined knight in shining armor, who would like her immediately, who would help her hide.

“Let me just finish up here. You can watch or whatever. As long as there’s not another flare, no one will bother us.” Octavia must look nervous, because Raven adds, “I’ll lock the hatch, if it’ll make you feel better, even though I’m really not supposed to be able to do that. It’s their fault that I can, really; they shouldn’t have made it so easy for me to figure out a way to keep the idiot engineers out of here.”

She strides to her locker first, pulls out a piece of equipment of some kind. She takes it to the door, and Octavia can’t see what she’s doing, but after a moment she turns back and grins.

“There. No one’s getting in now.” She looks rather proud of herself.

“Thanks,” Octavia says.

“No problem,” Raven says, heading back toward whatever she was working on before Octavia came in. “I’ll just be like ten minutes. I’m this close to figuring this out.”

She babbles a little about things Octavia doesn’t understand but is soon too engrossed in her work to talk. Octavia doesn’t know what to do. She wants to look at _everything_ , wants to explore this little workshop. Raven has already done something illegal hiding her, and so Octavia trusts her, trusts that the door isn’t going to burst open, guards aren’t going to come arrest her. The idea of free time, out of the floor, out of the room, overpowers any fear she has about not getting home. Her hands itch to touch—everything, everything she can see. There are tools she has never seen before, _walls_ she has never seen before. She keeps her hands to herself, but she can’t help but look around.

She’s still gaping when Raven finishes her work.

“Never seen a Mecha work station before?”

Octavia blushes, unsure if it’s okay she’s been caught looking. But Raven grins.

“It’s a bit of a mess, but it’s pretty cool, right?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Raven rolls her eyes at her, but the way Bell does sometimes, good-naturedly. Octavia wonders if she’s made a _friend_.

“You ready to get out of here?” Raven asks.

She’s ready to say yes, but Raven starts unlocking the hatch and Octavia takes three steps backward instead. She stumbles into a table, knocks a tool to the ground with a clatter. Raven glances at her sharply.

“I can’t—” Octavia starts. She stops at the way Raven’s face changes to a grin.

“You didn’t think we were taking the hallway, did you?” she says. “I gotta unlock this, but please. I know this place better than that. We’re taking the air vents. As long as you’re okay with climbing through small spaces?”

Octavia actually laughs at that. “Shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Then just stay quiet and follow me,” Raven says.

She offers a grin and Octavia smiles back. She leads her to a door, behind which is a ladder. They climb up first, then crawl into a narrower horizontal vent. Octavia feels like they are being louder than they can afford, hands and knees clanging, but Raven doesn’t seem worried. Octavia watches Raven’s feet. She follows, as quiet as she can, tries not to marvel at how long the route seems—up and down and over and around. This doesn’t quite seem to count as exploring new parts of the Ark. She can’t see anything but metal, though they do pass the occasional grate covering a vent, right on the other side are rooms or hallways, _people_ , and it’s terrifying and exhilarating all at once. She wonders how much of the Ark she could reach, just crawling through the air vents. Wonders what will happen if she’s discovered.

She almost runs into Raven when she stops.

“Okay,” Raven whispers. “This vent leads into my room. I always keep it unscrewed, for times just like these. All you gotta do is—” she fiddles with the grate a little and it pops out the other side. “Ta-da!”

She scrambles through and Octavia follows. The room is pretty similar to the Blakes’, but Octavia notices all the differences—different colors, different angles, a different language on the door.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” Raven grins.

Octavia kind of wants to hug her. She feels safe, surrounded by four tight walls, able to slip back into the air vent if anyone comes by. She settles for a smile instead of a hug, and sits on the lower bunk when Raven does and gestures beside her.

“You’ll be safe here,” Raven says. “But I want you to be prepared for the fact that my mom might come back.” Octavia goes stiff, and Raven puts a hand on her knee. “It’ll be fine. She won’t know who you are, she won’t care, she won’t ask, and, most important, she won’t remember. She’s not—she’s—you’ll see if she shows up, okay? But I swear it’ll be fine.”

Octavia swallows. Nods. Tries not to be sad when Raven pulls her hand back.

“Anyway,” Raven says, brusque now, instead of warm. “You didn’t have plans besides sleeping, did you? Because that’s what I’m gonna do.”

“No, yeah,” Octavia says. “That’s fine.”

Raven starts the motions of getting ready for bed. Octavia stays on the lower bunk as Raven changes into pajamas in the small attached bathroom. She pops her head back through the door. A toothbrush is hanging out of her mouth.

“Want a pair of pajamas?”

Octavia nods.

“Bottom drawer.”

Raven takes enough time in the bathroom for Octavia to change—and to get nervous again. What if Raven changes her mind? What if Raven’s mom comes back and sees her and says something? What if _Raven_ says something and tips people off? Or what about Bellamy? Trying to find her. Looking for her without being able to tell anyone he’s looking for her. What if people notice he’s acting strange? Or her mom is? Octavia can’t stop the worries racing through her head.

Raven puts her on the top bunk, and she just lies there, staring at the ceiling, anxious.

“Octavia?” Raven says quietly long after she’s turned off the lights.

“Yeah?”

“I swear I’m not gonna get you in trouble. I know you might not believe me, but—I hate the council, the rules, all of it.”

Octavia swallows. “Thanks, Raven.”

She has a hard time falling asleep. Stress, sure, but she’s also not used to having the bed to herself. She shares with Bellamy or her mom, usually, sometimes the whole night, sometimes just until one of them decides they’d be more comfortable on the floor. She and Bell used to fit easily into the bed together, grew up whispering to each other after the lights were off, giggling and getting shushed by their mom. She misses him like she’d miss a limb.

-

Octavia wakes up to a noise in the middle of the night. The door, she realizes. Someone is trying to get in the door. She sits bolt upright, heart dropped into her stomach. If she can’t get to the air vent, this is it, she is done, she is _dead_. She throws the blankets off and gets one leg out of bed before there are hands on her and she is going to _die_ —but it’s Raven, not a guard.

“Get back in bed,” Raven says.

“No!” Octavia tries to stay quiet. She can still hear whoever is in the hallway.

“It’s my _mom_ ,” Raven says. “Get back in bed. Lie flat. Don’t move. She won’t even notice you.”

Octavia doesn’t move.

“Trust me.” It comes out like a command, and Octavia does as she’s told. She climbs back into the bed while every muscle in her body screams at her to do the opposite.

When the door finally opens, she’s lying down again, not moving but breathing so hard she might as well be. She’s got her eyes clenched closed, waiting for the shine of a flashlight in her face, the muzzle of a gun. It never comes. The door closes.

“Hey, Ma,” Raven says.

There’s a grunt. “Raven? What are you doing here?” The words are not quite slurred. “Why aren’t you in class?”

“It’s the middle of the night, Ma."

“Why aren’t you asleep then?"

“Let me help you into bed, then I’ll go, too.”

Octavia keeps her eyes closed. No one ever turned on a light; Raven helps her mother in the dark. There’s stumbling and muttering. Octavia’s still got adrenaline in her veins, but she understands what Raven meant, now, understands that she doesn’t have much to worry about regarding her mom.

“I’m going to climb into my bed now, okay?” Raven says this louder than she’s said anything else. “I’ll be there if you need me.”

Her mom grunts.

Octavia is already tight against the wall, tried to make herself as invisible as possible earlier, so there’s plenty of room for Raven to join her in the bed.

“Sorry,” Raven mutters. “I didn’t think she’d come home.”

“It’s fine,” Octavia whispers.

Raven rolls on her side, facing Octavia. It’s too dark to see her, but Octavia rolls toward her anyway.

“It’s okay,” she says.

“She’ll be gone when you wake up,” Raven says. “Sorry we have to share a bed.”

Octavia reaches for her, catches her elbow when she meant to touch her shoulder. “Raven. It’s okay.”

Raven sighs. Octavia doesn’t move her hand. She falls asleep a lot easier this time.

-

Raven was right. Her mom is gone by the time they wake up. Neither of them mention it. Raven offers Octavia some breakfast from their pantry, which is more bare than the Blakes’. Octavia tries to pour herself a small bowl of cereal, but Raven rolls her eyes and fills her bowl higher.

“I got classes all morning,” Raven says as they eat. “Do you still need a place to hide?”

Octavia bites her lip.

“You can hang out here if you do. I’ll be back after lunch,” Raven says. “But you really have to tell me what the hell is going on at some point, or I won’t be able to do anything more to help you. You can’t possibly have done anything that terrible, can you? I mean, I’ll probably hear something about it today, but you really don’t seem like a murderer or anything.”

Octavia shrugs. She doesn’t understand why Raven trusts her to stay alone in her room. Raven’s right, Octavia hasn’t told her anything, really, but Raven is just taking care of her. Octavia’s chest feels warm.

“I’ll tell you,” she says. “Later. When you get back, maybe.”

She has no idea what she’ll tell Raven. Depends on what Raven hears through the grapevine, she guesses. But Raven’s right; Octavia has to tell her more if she’s ever going to get home.

-

While Raven’s gone, Octavia has nothing to do. She tries a book from Raven’s shelf, but it’s too science-y for her. Tries another and it’s a romance novel; she puts it down faster than the first. With nothing to occupy her mind, she worries again. All the same worries as the night before: her mom, her brother, Raven. Someone saying something wrong, doing something wrong. Octavia getting found. Getting them killed. An even worse thought creeps into her head, and she hates it, and hates herself for it, but once it’s there she can’t stop thinking it.

_What if they are happier without her?_

What if they don’t look too hard? If they realize it’s easier not to have to hide a teenage girl under the floor. What if they decide she’s not worth finding? She can’t stay with Raven forever. What happens then?

-

“What up?” Raven asks as soon as she gets back, before the door is even closed, and doesn’t she remember Octavia is _hiding_ and maybe she shouldn’t be so obvious? She flings her backpack into a chair and collapses onto the lower bunk. “Remind me why we have to take anything that isn’t STEM again? School sucks."

Octavia wouldn’t know, and can’t believe Raven is being so nonchalant. Octavia has spent a good couple of hours freaking out, and Raven is just lounging around making small talk.

“How was your morning?” Octavia asks, because she can’t ask the questions she wants to know the answer to: _is my family alive? Are they okay? Does anyone know? Can I go home?_ Please _, can I go home?_

“Nothing special,” Raven says. “Except your brother is throwing a fit about you being gone.”

Octavia whips her head around. “What’d Bellamy do?”

As soon as it is out of her mouth, she knows she’s fucked up. _Massively_ fucked up. Raven’s face lights up with glee and Octavia feels like she’s been floated. She can’t get any oxygen to her lungs.

“I fucking _knew_ it!” Raven says. “I _knew_ you were a hidden kid.”

“Please,” Octavia gasps, tears sudden in her eyes. “Please, I’ll do anything, just don’t tell anyone. Please, Raven, I’m begging you.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Concern sets in across Raven’s face. She rushes to Octavia’s side and puts an arm around her. “No, O,” she says, but Bellamy’s nickname for her just makes Octavia cry harder. “This doesn’t change anything. It’s good. Now I can figure out how to get you reunited with your family.” She tucks Octavia’s hair behind her ear. “I’d never say anything. Not to anyone. The rules are bullshit. You deserve to exist, Octavia. Don’t let any fucker tell you otherwise.”

Octavia tries to stop hiccupping in her breath. Even if Raven doesn’t tell—if Bellamy was acting strange enough that Raven figured it out, who else might?

“How—” her breath hitches. “How did you know?”

“Well, I didn’t know it was Bellamy, first off,” Raven says. “Got lucky guessing you had a brother not a sister, honestly. He’s not throwing a fit. Or, I mean, he probably is, but somewhere safe—nowhere anyone would see. I just figured—the gossip on this ship is insane. You don’t know that, obviously, but it is. You always hear about other people’s business. So to have someone who had to hide at ID check, and then to hear _nothing_ unusual? That never happens. If guards were looking for you, even if they didn’t want people to know, people would know. If people knew about you, people would talk about you. No one is talking.”

Octavia finally feels like she can fully expand her lungs.

“Now that you say Bellamy, though, I guess he did look a little ragged. I just chalked it up to a good Unity Day party,” Raven says. “Shit, he must be going crazy.”

Octavia bites the inside of her cheek and wonders if Bell ever tells himself _I am not afraid_.

“I know his schedule,” she says. “I know when you can catch him at home.”

“You know his schedule when his sister isn’t missing and he isn’t trying to look for her without anyone knowing,” Raven says gently. “I’ll have to find him in the mess or something and somehow get him to trust me when we’ve pretty much never talked before. Sounds easy.”

It is, Octavia realizes. “Call him Augustus,” she says. “What year are you? Are you taking any history classes? He’s really good at history. You could call him Augustus and ask for help. He’d know.”

Raven smiles, squeezes her arm. “I’m shit at history, so it’s even a believable cover.”

Octavia gives her a watery smile.

“I’m serious, O,” she says. “Don’t ever let anyone make you feel like you don’t deserve to be here. You do.”

It’s maybe the first time she really believes it

-

Raven leaves again, this time set on finding Bellamy. Octavia isn’t sure how long it will be, or if he’ll come with her right away or maybe they’ll have to plan a later time. She paces for a while, but eventually she climbs back into the bed, tries to calm down.

She didn’t realize she had fallen asleep until she wakes up to Raven and her _brother_ coming into the room together.

“Bell!” Octavia launches herself off of the top bunk.

Bellamy stumbles backward into the table when she lands on him, but he catches her. She can barely breathe with how tight he holds her. She hugs him just as hard. Neither of them are _crying_ when they finally pull back, but they both ignore the shine in the other’s eyes.

“I thought—” Bellamy starts.

“I know,” Octavia says. “But I’m okay. And you’re okay.”

“Mom, too,” he says. “Or she will be once you get home, at least.”

“About that,” Raven says, still standing just in front of the door. Octavia wants to hug her, too. “Where do you guys live, Bellamy? I have to figure out our route through the air ducts.”

“How well do you know Factory station?” Bellamy asks.

“I know this entire ship, thanks.”

“Shut up, Raven,” Octavia laughs before Bellamy can get offended.

Raven grins at her. “I do, though. Plus, I got maps.”

Octavia is enthralled. Raven has maps of the entire Ark. It’s everything Octavia’s never had the chance to see. Raven shows her where their quarters are, where Raven’s quarters are. Shows her where the ball was and where the workshop is that Octavia found Raven in. Raven shows her the route they took, through the air vents. It seems so short. It felt so long while they were taking it, and on the map it is tiny. Octavia thinks of all the explorers Bellamy has taught her about—Columbus and da Gama and Vespucci—from back before the world was known. She thinks of the words Bellamy collects, words that aren’t used anymore, can’t be used anymore, because they don’t apply to living in space; she thinks of the word _wanderlust_.

“So when can you bring her home?” Bellamy asks after Raven has planned out their route.

Raven glances at Octavia. “How’s now?”

Bellamy beams. Octavia thinks maybe she’d rather go exploring than go home.

“You go there first; you’ll have to unscrew the vent guard so we can get out.”

Bellamy throws an arm around Octavia’s neck. “You’re coming home,” he grins against her temple.

Octavia leans into him. She does want to go home. It hasn’t even been a full day, but she _missed_ him.

He leaves to get their room ready, let their mom know. Raven double checks her map and turns to Octavia.

“Ready to go?”

Octavia nods. She is. And she isn’t. She doesn’t really want to leave Raven, but can’t wait to go home.

The trek through the air vents is more fun this time. Octavia is mostly unworried about getting caught; she trusts Raven too much now, and she knows she’s headed somewhere safe, rather than somewhere she doesn’t know.

Bellamy’s already got the grate unscrewed and off, so when they arrive, they’re able to climb right out.

“Octavia!”

Her mom hugs her even tighter than Bellamy did when he first saw her.

It’s an intense family reunion, and Raven looks obviously uncomfortable, shuffling her feet and digging her hands into her pockets.

“I’ll leave you to it,” she says eventually. “I’d better go out the way I came in, just in case.”

“Thank you,” Bellamy says. “I don’t know—just thanks.”

“You can help me out in history to pay me back; I totally wasn’t joking about not knowing what the hell is happening in that class.”

She turns to Octavia, who feels sort of helpless. She likes Raven. She’s funny and _kind_ , kind enough to _save_ her. The thought of not seeing her again, of not seeing anything but this room again—it’s good to be back, but it’s a hard reality to face.

“Chin up, babe,” Raven says. She hugs her, quick and tight, then climbs out through the air vent without looking back.

“God, O, I’m so glad you’re home,” Bellamy says, and pulls her into a hug, and Octavia is glad, too.

-

Two days later, she’s going stir crazy.

She’s always wanted to see the Ark. When she was younger, she never truly understood why she couldn’t. She knows, now, knows better, but she’s gotten a taste, and she wants it more than anything.

She wants to see more and do more, but also: she’s _lonely_. She’s sure she’s put Raven up on a pedestal, but she misses her. Likes her so much she wants the chance to meet so many other people. Make friends. Actually know people outside of her family.

She’d settle for seeing Raven again, she thinks. For looking at her maps and learning everything Raven knows about the Ark.

She tells herself she can’t. Reminds herself. Resigns herself.

-

It’s the middle of the day, Bellamy and their mom both out and about, and Octavia is reading one of Bellamy’s textbooks.

“Psst!”

She jumps so hard she almost falls out of the chair.

There’s a laugh from the air vent. Octavia recognizes it.

“Unscrew this and let me out, O,” Raven says.

  



End file.
